dangerdork,
Fine. How about "discover" then? You discovered this system in much the same way that Columbus discovered America, the planets were discovered and vaccines are discovered. I believe you've done something great here and you should allow yourself to take some kind of credit for it!
Rodney

That's very, very flattering, Rodney, and I appreciate the compliment. But it's an even GREATER compliment to see that you're excited about this system and trying it out, exploring it further on your own. I'm not writing all of this down for attention or personal recognition, I'm putting it out there in order to share it with other tarot enthusiasts. Because, on the one hand, I feel like I may be on the right track toward unraveling the mysteries of the tarot - but on the other, I feel like this would be a fantastic way for someone relatively new to the tarot to familiarize themselves with their decks.

It's difficult to sit down and try to memorize, or formulate, the meanings of 78 individual cards - and even if you break it into Trumps and suits, those groups are still a little unwieldy. But if you break the tarot into 11 stories (plus the fool), and each of those stories has seven defined steps or Stations, it creates little clusters that feel familiar and interconnected. At least for me.

I'm not proposing that everyone adopt this system, or that it's The Only Way, but for those who do choose to adopt this system, I believe that it has vast promise of becoming an important component of your tarot repertoire.

dangerdork,
I have all 8 of the decks you picked out. Question for you though. What is TRANSFOMRATION? That is on all the paths. (Just messing with you. I know you mean transformaton. )
Rodney

DOH! I always sucked at self-proofing.

I still haven't gotten to write down a lot of my thoughts, and a party I'm hosting will begin shortly (with lots of tarot involved ), but here are a couple tidbits:

If you look at each minor suit as containing an Outer and Inner Path, and the Major Arcana as the Outer, Inner, and Hidden Paths, they correspond nicely. And you could also argue that only the Major Arcana get the Hidden Path because they are the Special Esoteric Magickal cards.

But if we have that that exact correspondence, then wouldn't each of the Minor cards have a corresponding Major matching its Path and Station? And wouldn't the Hidden Path Trump rule of ALL cards in its station?

Thus, in each suit, what if we say that the cards are ruled by the following:

I *just* now saw this thread, and after skimming for a few moments only, have instantly printed out the whole thing.
(my computer HATES pdf files for reasons known only to it, so I have
skipped opening those pages for now).

almost ran out of printer paper, but this whole thing looks too exciting, and
I need to be able to get away from the computer table to the studio, where
I have room to spread stuff out, and give all of this a good hard look for over
as many days as it takes for my poor dried-sponge brain to absorb.
might be quite awhile...

(I have a few majors-only decks that I would love to get more use
out of, and give more turns round the block than they currently enjoy)

Many thanks to you, dangerdork, for posting your epiphany and all of your
thoughts and inspirations, and to Rodney and everyone else for feeding
into the thread and expanding the explanation and perspective of all of it.
all the comments others made were most useful.
thank you thank you.

As you can see, the Fool is left floating off to the side, and we now have three rows of cards. The middle row has my cluster of Strength - Justice - Temperance, with BONUS Angel the Star. Wow! these 3 rows seem to really be groups that work together.

For those who STILL haven't laid the cards out, the three rows we have now grouped the cards into consist of:

If these three groups have been described anywhere in the literature in the way I'm about to discuss, please let me know; because I really think I'm onto something.

I call them the Three Paths.

Seeing Judgment, Hierophant and HP all in the same line suggested a religious theme. I thought of the two major forces in the world during the origins of Tarot - Church and State - and rows 1 and 2 seemed to really gel.

Row One people follow the lead of the King, the Emperor - they follow the State; and Row Two people likewise are motivated by the Church (The Hierophant). So the Path of The Citizen vs. the Path of the Congregant. Then what about Row 3? The key is in the second column. A "Row 1 person" is driven by the Emperor (State), a Row 2 person by the Church (Hierophant), so a row 3 person is driven by... The Lovers? YES! For what do the Lovers represent but Choice... FREE WILL! Row 3 is the Path of the Individualist.

Here are some other possible descriptions of the 3 rows I've come up with, all loosely associated:

So, basically I see the first row as a person defined by the EVENTS in their lives: The Chariot establishing balance and progress in the material world; Wheel of Fortune as sudden turn of events or circumstances in the material world, Death and the Tower again as EVENTS the seeker along this path inevitably encounters, and the Sun as their ultimate KNOWLEDGE, their version of enlightenment.

The second path? again, beyond the Hierophant, where the Seeker in Row one was defined and formed by EVENTS, is defined and formed by Virtues or QUALITIES OF CHARACTER. Strength, Justice, Temperance, Star, are all in perfect sync... and the final card of the row? JUDGMENT? Well, just as the Seeker in Row 1 sought knowledge and enlightenment as the result of the real-world experiences, so the Row 2 Seeker will ultimately be rewarded with eternal salvation at Judgment. Their ultimate goal is to become worthy of heaven. And as a side note, I LOVE how the placement of Strength / Justice in different decks has virtually no effect on this overall scheme.

And now the third row... the Individualist, the Rebel, the Id, Hermetic knowledge. Here is the Dark Side, the most difficult path to survive. Rather than listening to the Emperor or Hierophant, the Seeker has chosen to find his own way, learn his own truths, work out the Answers for himself. And when you look at it that way, it's the path most fraught with danger - ALL the Dark Night of The Soul cards lie along this path. The Hermit - he seeks his truths alone; The Hanged Man - I always focus on the "seeing the world in new ways" aspects, but as Campbell reminds us, this is also about social ostracism. Again with the Devil, the Devil I always see in this card is the one in the mirror... your "personal demons."

and next up... the MOON! Man, this 3-rows perspective is tight! For although we have not dropped the word yet, surely this Row 3 is the Path of the MYSTIC. And what self-respecting Mystic would be complete without the subconscious, the hidden, the unknown? And just as this path is most fraught with danger - so its reward is the most fulfilling and complete - The World. Seekers 1 and 2 desire Knowledge and Salvation, respectively, but this path leads to Closure, Fulfillment, Completion. Worldliness.

I've seen 3x7 tarot templates by various tarot authors, but don't recall this specific layout that brings the virtues together on the central row, nor recall any other discussion of these three paths connected to 3x7 layout except in general terms of body/mind/spirit... so I think you're on to something here! My personal choice for Prudence is the High Priestess, so that fits right in with your template.

Regarding the associations though, it seems that Apollo (and the mind) was connected to the Ego and Dionysus (and the body) to the Id by various thinkers including Nietzche. Maybe Soldier/Priest/Rebel, Apollonian/Hermetic/Dionysian + Mind/Spirit/Body would align with traditional associations.

Also, the Fool was traditionally placed between Judgment and the World, so if the Fool is placed in the 21 position as the ultimate Dionysian goal, the World may be placed off to the side, encompassing all three levels.

And Faith, Hope and Love/Charity could be represented by the Hierophant, the Star and Judgment, or the World (placed to Judgment's right), to have all 7 virtues on the middle row (laying them out left to right for each of three rows).

I've seen 3x7 tarot templates by various tarot authors, but don't recall this specific layout that brings the virtues together on the central row, nor recall any other discussion of these three paths connected to 3x7 layout except in general terms of body/mind/spirit...

Many versions and discussions of the 3x7 structure with varying titles of three levels have been made.

The following thread specifically discusses the structure as a ladder of virtues:

Thanks, kwaw, for pointing out that thread. I'm not surprised to learn that this line of thinking has been explored before, and I really got a lot out of just skimming that thread.

I still think I want to pursue my own independent development and examination of these patterns as Seven Stations with a slightly different focus. What I take away as a first impression as the DIFFERENCE between my thinking and the "seven rungs" is that the metaphor of the seven rungs delineates a clear, sequential ascension to, let's say, enlightenment or fulfillment, and as such is focused mainly on the "Virtue" central to each step -- and the resultant confusion as to the ordering of those virtues.

Whereas, and I hope this isn't stretching, the Seven Stations is more of a chronological metaphor of certain aspects of a Journey to enlightenment, which to me feels more like the plot of a story - not necessarily ordered in a hierarchy but rather as a series of principles, events and obstacles which, although involving a "turning point," are ultimately more flexible in their examination of the relationship of the "virtues" to life's major events, obstacles and lessons.

I'm eager to delve into more of the fantastic and knowledgeable posts in that thread and thanks again for pointing it out.

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